The male has a dark emerald green throat, yellow crown, pale brown below and narrow yellow throat collar.

It closely resembles the crimson-plumed Raggiana bird-of-paradise, but has apricot orange rather than crimson flank plumes.

The Empress of Germany's bird of paradise is distributed and endemic to the upper Ramu River and Huon Peninsula of northeastern Papua New Guinea.

[1] The name commemorates the German Empress and queen consort of Prussia, Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein.

In the wild, the Empress of Germany's bird of paradise is hybridized with the emperor bird-of-paradise, with at least six specimens known.